Nehra and Mongia - A case of incongruous pragmatism?

It seems it has been a long time since I posted on Different Strokes and on cricket, a subject that was the reason I started blogging in the first place. But it was not a conscious decision to stay away from cricket and so when I saw this on Cricinfo yesterday, I had to break my silence.

Dinesh Mongia and Ashish Nehra are two players who brought out contrasting reactions from me as I watched the drama unfold in South Africa during the last World Cup. While in Nehra's case it was all "hip hip hurrah", I dreaded the sight of Mongia walking in. Through the course of India's campaign, he never looked like he deserved his place ahead of Laxman.

This was never more apparent than in the match against England at Durban, where his 38 took all of 62 balls. In a game where India scored just 250, I thought his labored stint did India no good. But that was before Nehra took over and broke England’s back with a World Cup best performance for India.

That was 2003. Three years thence, both men have been cast by the sidelines. In Nehra’s case it has been his perennial fitness issues. He has been in and out of the team. But in Mongia’s case, he has never recovered from the debacle that was WC’03. Playing only a handful of games for India, Mongia has since concentrated on turning out for Punjab and also in summer at Old Trafford and later at Grace Road, with considerable success.

Though I agree with Anand Vasu when he says that that Mongia’s inclusion is a case of short term pragmatism, it strikes me as incongruous that Mongia has been asked to leave Leicester early where he has been one of their top performers. In fact, considering his average this year and that he will miss out on four more stints at the crease, this early departure might even prevent him from completing 1000 first class runs for Leicestershire this season.

The BCCI’s demand is especially striking when you consider that Nehra who is playing club cricket in England has been allowed to stay away from a camp that he was invited to in order to assess his fitness, something that has not been his strong point in the past.

But apart from all this, why do I get this feeling that both Nehra and Mongia will not make the squad in the near future? In Mongia’s case, it is obvious that, with the current composition of the squad, he has a tough fight in his hands.

In Nehra’s case however, it is different. To the consipiracy theorist in me, it seems that, with Nehra’s history, the selectors are hoping to let the law of averages work itself into the equation and that he shall break down yet again in action in England with his club team, rather than on tour with India.

Will I eat my words? At least in Mongia’s case, I hope I do. The man deserves another chance, at least on the basis of current form.